Fricatives

As in many other varieties of English, RP /θ, ð/ are often replaced by the dental or alveolar plosives  or they are dropped altogether in word-final position.

Some speakers also produce affricated versions, [tθ, dð] as in nothing [natθiŋ] or they [dðei]. Replacement or deletion of the dental fricatives are especially frequent in more informal and mesolectal/basilectal varieties, but they are not altogether unknown even in very formal GhE, particularly the affricated variants. Again, one and the same speaker may vary between [θ,ð] and the corresponding GhE plosives or affricates, so that at least for acrolectal speakers an underlying / θ, ð/ can be assumed in words like thousand [θausεn ~ tθausεn ~ tausεn] or gathering [gaðεrin ~ gadðεrin ~ gadεrin]. In her study of the use of dental fricatives among students at the University of Ghana, Dako (forthcoming) found that women are more likely than men to retain RP dental fricatives (87% of the women were classed as /θ/-retainers and 65% as retainers of /ð/, as opposed to 53% and 37%, respectively, of the men).

Word-final /-θ/ is sometimes replaced by [-f] in words like bath, cloth, mouth, with, eighth. Again, Dako (forthcoming) showed that women prefer the standard form: only 16% of the female informants used word-final [-f], in contrast to 54% of the males.

Akan does not have the postalveolar fricatives /ʃ/ and /Ʒ/ , but the rather similar voiceless palato-alveolar fricative   occurs as an allophone of /h/ before front vowels. Furthermore, speakers of Akan are familiar with its voiced counterpart  from its occurrence in an allophone of /g/. Ghanaians regularly use  as substitutes for BrE /ʃ , Ʒ/ , e.g. in official  , issue , sure . Note that in contrast to the RP version of these words – /əfɪʃl, ɪʃju:, ʃʊə/ – GhE inserts an epenthetic [i] between  and a following back vowel, in keeping with the allophonic distribution of this fricative in Akan (which occurs only before front vowels).

Interestingly, the substitution of  for /ʃ , Ʒ/ is not only restricted to speakers whose L1 is Akan but can also be observed in the English of speakers of other Ghanaian languages, the majority of which does not have /ʃ , Ʒ/ or phonetically near-identical substitutes (although in some languages these sounds have allophonic status). Therefore, a good number of non-Akans have adopted  as substitutes for RP [ʃ , Ʒ]. It seems that this phonetic detail has become a truly national, if subconscious, feature of GhE, transcending mother tongue boundaries. However, it has to be pointed out that educated speakers vary between  and [ʃ , Ʒ], depending on their level of education and phonetic competence. Still others replace RP /ʃ/ by [s], for example in machine [masin]. These are predominantly speakers whose L1 does not have /ʃ/ (like Frafra) and who have had little schooling and/or little exposure to educated GhE. Probably as a reaction to this stigmatized /ʃ/ > [s] variant, hypercorrect forms like nursery  or bursary [bεʃri]  are not uncommon, even among educated Ghanaians.

As indicated on plosives, there is a tendency in GhE to devoice final obstruents: end [εnt], Lord [lɔt], news [nius], world [wεlt], etc. On the other hand, obstruents often get voiced in voiced environments – in intervocalic position (pieces [piziz], taxable [ta^gzabu]), but also if voiced consonants are involved (bursary [bεzri], pencils [pεnzils]). Such voicing can also be observed across word boundaries, cf. what about [hwad abaut] or first degree [fεz digri] or if Ghanaians [iv ganeεns]. As these examples show, it seems that the sibilants /s/ and /ʃ/ are particularly, though not exclusively, affected by this process.

At the same time, hypercorrection with regard to final devoicing can lead to pronunciations like dance [dãz] or process [prosεz]. Such voicing is possibly supported by the fact that final obstruents may become voiced when the following word starts with a voiced sound. Similarly, overgeneralized reversal of voicing leads to hypercorrect vision [viʃin] etc.